Drew Brees on the game that changed his career

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; &quot;One of the most defining moments of my career was in college [at Purdue],&quot; he says. &quot;It was my sophomore year, my first year as a starter, the fourth game of the season. We were playing at Notre Dame, which ...

"One of the most defining moments of my career was in college [at Purdue]," he says. "It was my sophomore year, my first year as a starter, the fourth game of the season. We were playing at Notre Dame, which was a Top 10 team. It was easily the biggest game of my career. The first 58 minutes of the game, I played as well as I'd ever played, and we were winning. The last two minutes, I threw two interceptions and we lost the game.

"It was a defining moment because it was one of those times, emotionally, where I could go in two directions. I could pout and make this affect me and I'd never be the same, or I could find a way to come back stronger and learn from the situation."

You can guess which path he took. Brees joins us courtesy of Tide, which is using him and 31 other players as amateur photojournalists for their "Color Captains" promotion; you can check out more at

We learn more from mental crossroads than we do from physical ones so the uncontrollable physical items do not resonate as much.

He still throws INTs at the most inopportune times so I wouldn't necessarily say he had a huge learning experience or a moment of clarity at Purdue. What I do see as clearly the biggest impact decision he has made was to come to us and not Miami.

Monday night after our victory will sting Miami more because of what QB beat them than going 3-1.